A conveyor belt and a belt module having airflow passages that direct air exiting the module in different directions to agitate conveyed products. The airflow passages of injection-molded belt modules are formed with no undercut regions to accommodate the clean parting of the mold halves.
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1. A conveyor belt comprising:
an upper conveying side and a lower side opposite the conveying side;
a plurality of tapered passages extending from openings at the conveying side to openings at the lower side, wherein each tapered passage has a centroidal axis;
wherein extensions of the centroidal axes of the tapered passages extend in a plurality of directions from the openings;
wherein the extensions of the centroidal axes of neighboring tapered passages extend in different directions.
7. A conveyor belt module comprising:
a first end having first hinge elements defining a first hinge axis;
an opposite second end having second hinge elements defining a second hinge axis,
wherein the first and second hinge axes lie in a common plane;
an upper side;
a lower side;
a plurality of passages extending from the upper side to the lower side, wherein each passage is bounded by a wall defining a portion of an oblique cone or pyramid having a base parallel to the common plane, a height perpendicular to the base, and an oblique centroidal axis, wherein the height and the oblique centroidal axis intersect the base at different points;
wherein extensions of the oblique centroidal axes extend from the passages in a plurality of directions; and
wherein the extensions of the oblique centroidal axes of neighboring passages extend in different directions.
2. A conveyor belt as in
3. A conveyor belt as in
4. A conveyor belt as in
5. A conveyor belt as in
6. A conveyor belt as in
8. A conveyor belt module as in
9. A conveyor belt module as in
10. A conveyor belt module as in
11. A conveyor belt module as in
12. A conveyor belt module as in
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The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to conveyor belts and modules with skewed airflow passages.
Fruits, vegetables, and other food products to be frozen are transported through freezer chambers by conveyor belts. Pressurized, chilled air is forced through passages in the conveyor belt and into the conveyed product bed. The products freeze during their dwell time in the freezer. Conventional conveyor belts have passages that direct the chilled air perpendicular to the plane of the belt, e.g., vertically on a horizontal belt run. Because all or almost all the chilled air flows through the belt in the same direction with little agitation, the products are not consistently uniformly frozen.
One version of a conveyor belt embodying features of the invention comprises a plurality of tapered passages extending from openings at an upper conveying side to openings at an opposite lower side. Each tapered passage has a centroidal axis. Extensions of the centroidal axes of the tapered passages extend in a plurality of directions from the openings.
In another aspect a conveyor belt module comprises a first end having first hinge elements defining a first hinge axis and an opposite second end having second hinge elements defining a second hinge axis. The first and second hinge axes lie in a common plane. Passages extend from an upper side to a lower side of the module. Each passage is bounded by a wall defining a portion of an oblique cone or pyramid having a base parallel to the common plane, a height perpendicular to the base, and an oblique centroidal axis. The height and the oblique centroidal axis intersect the base at different points, and extensions of the oblique centroidal axes extend from the passages in a plurality of directions.
Another version of a conveyor belt module comprises an upper side and a lower side opposite the upper side through the module's thickness. Passages extend without undercuts from first openings at the upper side to second openings at the lower side. The passages are tapered to direct air exiting the first openings at the upper side in different directions.
A portion of a conveyor belt embodying features of the invention is shown in
A conveyor belt module 12 usable to construct a conveyor belt as in
The cross section of the belt module 12 in
One way to form the tapered passages 18 in an injection-molded belt module 12 as in
Other versions of mold features are shown in
Although the invention has been described in detail with respect to a few versions, other versions are possible. For example, the pyramidal passages were described as four-sided with rectangular cross sections. But passages could be formed with triangular, pentagonal, or other polygonal cross sections. As another example, oblique airflow passages could be combined with non-oblique passages that direct air perpendicular to the common plane of the modules.
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